3 girls suspended from SJ school for cyberbullying

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By ABC7 Archive

SAN JOSE, Calif.

The school motto at Quimby Oak Middle School in San Jose is "Just be nice." However, three girls -- all eighth graders -- weren't so nice to a fellow student. They have been suspended for sending threatening messages to their classmate on Facebook.

ABC7 News doesn't know exactly what the threats entailed, but the online postings caught the attention of the victim's mother. She reported the threats to school officials the next morning. Administrators conducted an internal investigation and that led to the suspension of the three girls.

The parent of a Quimby Oak seventh grader said she didn't know about this incident, but she says parents need to intervene.

"We have to, as a parent, have to have some sort of disciplinary against kids so they learn," Lam Nguyen said. "If you don't take action from the beginning, if you let it go too long, it's going to get worse. It's not going to get better."

ABC7 News contacted headquarters of the evergreen school district. Director of Educational Services Dan Deguara was not available for an interview, but he said by email that the district's board of trustees is in the process of revising its policies on bullying and cyber-bullying. And, he said, the district has the authority to suspend the students, even if the threats occurred off school property.

He did not say how long the three girls have been suspended.

The last day for classes is two weeks away.

San Jose police were contacted as part of the investigation but they did not return a call for comment.